Blank Emotion
by mirrorshade
Summary: When wandering the streets on a distant planet, Rose is infected with a virus, and not one in the medical sense...
1. Chapter 1

Blank Emotion

by Owarinari

When wandering the streets on a distant planet, Rose is infected with a virus, and not one in the medical sense...

* * *

Interlude

Jack smiled at Rose's delight as she hung on his arm, taking in the sights and sounds of Delorous IV, a small planet which was the home of modern culture in the 52nd century (in human years). The Doctor had told them to go out 'and do whatever humans do in the middle on a fashionable planet – just don't blow anything up' to use his exact words, after the TARDIS had taken a slight detour from Madrid, Earth to London, Earth. Rose, upon hearing the words 'slight detour' had commented on how easily the TARDIS took a 'slight detour' halfway across the galaxy. It had resulted with the Doctor sulking while Jack and Rose decided to make themselves scarce on the alien planet, hoping he would be in a better mood when they got back.

"So are old styles really in now, then?" Glancing around, Rose could identify styles that she recognised from her own time.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah" Jack grinned down at her "You're very in fashion for here and now"

He playfully backed her up her up to a wall, which was mostly what all the other couples she could see were doing.

"Just like I like my women" He thought for a moment "And men" He added. Rose laughed and poked him teasingly.

"I'm charmed, but I don't think the Doctor would appreciate it if we come back and he finds out you ravished me in the street"

"Who says he has to find out" She laughed indulgently and poked him again, and he mock-sighed "Turned down again. I'm devastated"

"I'm sure you'll find somebody to mend your broken heart. You always do" She commented, eyes dancing with laughter. They were so engrossed with their conversation they didn't notice somebody on the flat roof of the building opposite them. The figure checked a tiny computer in its hand, (which Rose would have thought looked like something out of Casualty), and lifted a tiny, gun-like object, pointing it directly at the laughing pair leaning against the wall.

"So does he actually have a name or do you scream 'Doctor' during sex?" Jack asked, in an innocently tone while Rose spluttered.

"Excuse me, I do not scream" She protested, before her eyes darted past Jack to the figure on the rooftop. Too late. The trigger was pulled, and Rose reeled back, dropping to her knees.

"Rose?" Jack cried, kneeling down beside her "Rosie?"


	2. Chapter 2

Through the fog of pain, Rose heard Jack's voice, and the words spoken. Trying to leap to her feet and retaliate, she could only murmur drowsily.

"My name ain't Rosie," She grumbled. "Rosie is a puppet on a narrowboat," Jack made a mental note to ask her who she meant later.

"Are you alright?" Rose raised a hand to gingerly touch her tightly closed eye.

"That thing did something to my eye," Rose rubbed her head. "Feel a bit odd." Jack pulled her hand out of the way; Rose's right eye was bloodshot, red veins standing out from the too-pale skin surrounding it. He muttered a dark curse and pulled her to her feet while she swayed unsteadily.

"Come on. Back to the TARDIS, and we'll get you looked at."

He looped an arm around her waist to support her, and they made their way back to the TARDIS, Rose wincing at the growing pain in her head. Unbeknownst to her, and while Jack was looking away, the red veins in her eyes flashed gold briefly, oddly enough resembling tiny wires. It was gone as soon as Jack looked back at her, flirting nature displaced in the face of brotherly concern. She smiled weakly in reply to an unanswered question, and they were both glad when the familiar blue box came into view, Jack shoving open the door while trying to keep a dizzy Rose on her feet.

"Doctor?" He yelled, relieved when the clanking stopped and the Doctor appeared from under the console, back to them, sliding on his jacket while complaining good-naturedly.

"Get bored already? Or did you get into trouble again?"

"The latter," Jack said tightly. The Doctor turned, took in Rose's condition and was at their side in an instant, supporting Rose easily while talking to Jack.

"What happened?" The Doctor swept her up and carried her down the corridors to the Medical Bay, ignoring her dazed protests.

"We were in the street, and Rose just looked at something behind me and collapsed. She had me scared, I thought she was dead," Jack's voice wavered slightly, revealing his worry. Inwardly, the Doctor smiled slightly. Jack wasn't the hard-hearted conman he had appeared when they first met.

"Rose?" He put her gently on the table, hand resting on her cheek "C'mon love, open your eyes for me."

"Doc...tor?" Her eyes flickered open slowly.

"I'm here," he ran the scanner over her, frowning at the readings. "That's odd, it says nothing it wrong with her, but-"

Both the Doctor and Jack stared as the healthy glow returned to Rose's skin, eyes losing their lacklustre appearance and returning to the familiar sparkle of before. She stared at them as they stared at her, and spoke in her usual voice.

"Something wrong?"

"Are you alright?" The Doctor clasped her hands gently, watching her carefully. Her gaze met his, and he relaxed on sight of normal soft brown eyes with an amused twinkle burning away in them. She looked perplexed, and glanced at her surroundings.

"How did I end up here?"

"You got shot, remember?" Jack reminded her gently.

"Yeah...and I remember telling you I felt odd," she paused. "But nothing after that."

"Probably shock," the Doctor dismissed it "You might remember later."

But over Rose's head, the Doctor and Jack looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. They were going to keep a very close eye on Rose for quite a while yet.

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3 streets away from the TARDIS...

"Did you complete your task?" The speaker had a grating mechanical voice, and it was directed at a young man standing in front of a large computer. The man nodded and spoke, as if in a trance, in the same kind of mechanical voice.

"Yes. I came across a human female with enough strength to withstand the transition, but weak enough not to resist," a pause. "She is yours."

"Good." There was a silence; as if the first speaker was thinking. "And you will leave, and forget." The young man nodded and went up the stairs and out the door, in the same trance-like state. He walked into the street, and then started as if just waking up. He looked around in a daze, and walked away back to his home, with no memories of what he had been doing for the last five days.

Back in the building, the speaker gave a mechanical chuckle, and the screen lit up, data flashing across it.

"Initiate."

--------------------------

Back in the TARDIS, curled up around the Doctor, Rose's eyes snapped open, exposing blank eyes with gold lines running through them. In the same movements the young man had been moving with, she rose, dressed and padded down the corridors, unbeknownst to her two friends.

"I obey."

And it seemed like the TARDIS shivered from the mechanical voice.


	3. Chapter 3

It was early morning (Delorous Time) when the Doctor awoke. As he looked around for Rose and felt the cold sheets next to him, he instinctively knew that Rose was no longer in the TARDIS, and that something was terribly wrong. He quickly pulled on his trousers and jumper, running down the corridors to the Control Room. He tapped the console to get the ship's attention.

"Locate Rose Tyler," he stated clearly. A map flashed up on the screen in front of him, scouring the city for Rose. After a while, there came an apologetic sounding bleep from the control panel.

"What do you mean, you can't find her?" The Doctor's voice had risen slightly, a clear indication of his worry. There was another couple of bleeps and information scrolled across the screen in several languages.

"Something's blocking you?" The Doctor frowned, sighed and quietly thanked her for her effort. "Wake up Jack, will you? We're going to need him."

The Doctor ran through all the worst possible scenarios in his head, and found them getting decidedly darker as the minutes passed.

Eventually Jack burst in, hair wet and clothes rumpled. "Rose is gone?"

The Doctor nodded, eyes flicking to the Captain's wet hair and skin. "Decided to take a shower, Jack?" He said, in an unreadable tone.

"No. She turned the sprinklers on in my room," he gestured to the console. "Woke me up fast enough," he turned back to the Doctor. "What happened to Rose?"

"She's not here, and the TARDIS can't find her." The Doctor sighed heavily, "I should have kept a closer eye on her."

"'Should have' isn't going to help us now," Jack rubbed his hands together. "Time we start asking around."

"Asking people? Jack, there's a population of one million on this city alone. It's take hours"

"Well, she can't have gone very far; besides, more people to ask about Rose."

The Doctor nodded slightly and they left; the TARDIS bleeping sorrowfully for her missing inhabitant behind them. They started asking around for a young, blonde female human, but everyone they spoke to had just arrived for work. A couple said they had seen her walking through the square early that morning, but were unable to tell them the direction she went in.

After a few hours of searching, they slumped down in a couple of chairs outside a small café, tired and no closer to finding Rose.

"So she got shot, was dizzy and disorientated for a few minutes, that cleared away and she felt normal, but with no memory of what had happened, and then she disappeared of her own accord," the Doctor said, mentally ticking off what they knew, and sighed again.

"I hate to interrupt, but I think I may be able to help..." the Doctor's taut face relaxed for a moment as he greeted the fair-haired man now standing across from them.

"Noel." Noel grinned and nodded his head in reply. "I thought you were still in that bar I left you at."

"Nah, decided to clear off after the guards turned up. Thought they might ask me for my name, age and address."

"And you'd confuse them with the answer: 'I don't know my age'."

Noel gave a lop-sided grin. "Exactly. I'd have to explain the whole 'being born between times' thing."

"Oh, right. Jack, this is Noel Trivescar, Noel this Jack Harkness," the Doctor introduced them. "What were you saying about being able to help?"

"I know someone who had the same symptoms as your friend. He only turned up again yesterday. Doesn't remember a thing about what he's been doing for the last few days. His family reckons he's been out on the razz, but that's something even I can't manage, and I remember at least **_something _**after drinking Mars's best bar dry of its strongest alcohol in one night."

"Can we meet him?" the Doctor asked, leaning forward hopefully.

Noel shrugged and nodded. "Sure, I just don't know how much help he's gonna be."

They all stood and Noel led the way through the crowds, returning the greetings people called to him, and yet Jack noticed he didn't completely fit in, much like he and the Doctor didn't.

"What did he mean by 'born between times'?"

With his eyes still on the man in front of them, the Doctor replied to Jack's question. "Noel's parents were Time Agents; he was born in his father's ship as they were going to this century from another time in the past. So while his mother insists he was born in 2502, he's not too sure himself. He likes to confuse people by telling them he doesn't know his age."

"Here we are!" Noel broke into the conversation; he was standing at the open door, which had a tiny dark headed girl peering out. Noel crouched down and spoke to her gently.

"We'd like to speak to your brother, Kitty, is he in?" The dark head nodded once "Can we see him?" Another nod and a tiny hand seized Noel's jacket sleeve, pulling him along and into the house. Noel nodded to them, and they followed him in, closing the door. Jack and the Doctor entered the room, finding Noel already talking to a young man near a window facing out into the street.

"Neil," The young man introduced himself. At their expressions he added "My parents are old-fashioned. I'm not sure if I can help you but I can try."

"You don't remember anything at all?"

"No," Neil shook his head. "And what's strange, is that the same thing has happened to a few other people as well. I know some of them from the University I go to off-world. At first we thought they had spent the last few days drunk, and hung-over, but it's strange, nobody remembers anything in the slightest."

"University...are they all about your age?" Neil nodded. "Smart and young...vulnerable..." the Doctor mused, starting to pace.

"They seem to be disappearing for longer too. The first was only gone for a day or so. A freshman, I think. The students seem to be getting older too, I'm in the last year of University," Neil added helpfully.

The Doctor had been watching Neil carefully while he spoke, and had noticed something in his eye. He leaned forward with his sonic screwdriver ready.

"Hold still please." The blue light flashed over Neil's right eye, and something dropped into the Doctor's waiting hand "Thanks."

Jack leaned forward, curious. "What is it?"

The Doctor examined, the tiny wires, and picked out the even smaller writing along one side of a wire. He cursed darkly.

"I should have known."

Jack took the wire and read it: 'kyrios' and 'kosmos'. "World Lord?" Jack translated, looking blankly at the Doctor.

The Doctor scowled. "Not for long"


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor strode towards the door, tapping Jack on the shoulder as he passed behind him.

"Come on," He nodded his thanks to Neil, and then pointed at Noel. "You, we're going to need your decoding skills."

Noel shrugged and started to follow him. "Sure thing. Not up for blowing your way in, then?"

"Too risky. He'll be watching"

"Who's 'he'?" Jack asked, matching the Doctor's swift pace easily.

"Kosmos Kyrios," the Doctor scowled. "A name he gave himself. He was a computer genius named Vance, a long while ago. But before he died, he managed to upload his mind onto a computer. When his body died, he became part of the computer. It seems he's on a body hunt again." The Doctor sped increased his pace even more "And he's picked on the wrong body."

The TARDIS' door swung open as they approached, and the Doctor put the tiny collection of wires he had gotten from Neil on a panel that had appeared from the console at his request.

"You know what I'm looking for, girl," he encouraged her. While he talked to the ship, Jack turned to an amused looking Noel.

"You don't look surprised."

"No, I've known him for ages. His fashion sense has improved though, since I first met him."

"Oi!" The Doctor turned so he could see them "I liked that scarf, thank you very much."

However, as the TARDIS suddenly jerked into motion, and threw them about as it headed for its destination, the teasing ceased. When the ship landed, it was three grim-faced men who headed outside.

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Rose stood in front of the computer, perfectly still and attentive. Visible in her blank eyes were thin gold threads, pulsing faintly. She had both hands pressed to the metal panel in front of the machine. Gold lines led away from her hands and up to the computer, where a light flashed in time with the pulsing of the lines. A robotic voice gave an odd sigh of pleasure, as Rose's eyes started to slide shut.

"Upload...50 per centcomplete" the voice stated, sounding extremely smug. Neither realised that there were three men coming up the stairs.

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"Hurry up Noel!" Jack and the Doctor were leaning over Noel as he tapped furiously on the keypad on the door.

"I'm sorry, it's in 5 languages, and the pair of you are breathing down my neck like Raxacoricofallapatorians," Noel entered the code and added thoughtfully, "Don't you think it's odd that we haven't encountered any resistance so far?"

The door slid open, but two blast doors slammed down in its place, and the screen next to the door demanded two more codes to open the doors.

"Nice one, Noel," the Doctor said, scathingly.

"Sorry," Noel's sharp green eyes fixed on the screen again. "This may take a few minutes."

"Never mind. We might as well set off the alarms anyway; he probably knows we're here," the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and held it out to the screen, and as the doors slid back, the alarms went off.

"Why would he have an alarm specifically for the screwdriver?" Jack asked curiously. The Doctor's gaze was unreadable.

"Because he knows me."

The small blonde figure that greeted them in the next room made them stop. Blank eyes stared at them, while a smirk that didn't belong to her widened at the sight of their shock.

"Too late, Doctor," the voice no longer came from the computer, it came from Rose.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks to all the reviewers! This is the last chapter

* * *

"Rose?" Jack asked queries, and the blank eyes flicked from the Doctor to him. 

"No. Rose Tyler to longer exists. There is only me," the smirk again, which twisted the features into a harsh parody of the once-beautiful features.

"What right have you got to use someone else's body?" The Doctor demanded, eyes flashing in anger. In return, the mechanical voice changed slightly in anger, becoming sharper.

"I have every right. I take bodies because they do not have a purpose in this life; I use their otherwise wasted years to continue my work."

"She isn't a worthless body, she's _Rose,_" Jack snapped, and what had been Rose shrugged lazily.

"Oh, it has a name, then," Vance commented.

"Yes, **she **has a name," The Doctor growled.

"So what are you going to do then, Doctor? You cannot kill this body, because you are scared you will kill your friend." Another smirk. "Technology has advanced since we last met Doctor, I can read you like a book now."

"Are you advanced so much as to tell me why a 'Critical Error has occurred during Transfer'?" asked Noel, reading off the screen behind Rose. She spun, giving a horrified cry when the message flashed up again.

"No!" She lunged forward, but fell short, hand gripping the railing in front of the computer as she shook violently.

"What-" Jack began, only to be interrupted by the Doctor.

"He needed the people he used to be intelligent, but easily influenced. Rose is attached to the TARDIS, which affects her brainwaves," He caught Jack's eye, grinning for the first time since the confrontation. "But this Rose, not going to give up without a fight, stubborn ape."

"Jack and I'll have a look for a way out; this place will probably go with a bang once he gives up his hold on her. We'll leave you to the girl," Noel grinned slyly and pushed Jack out of the door ahead of him, while the Doctor walked up to Rose and turned her to look at him. The gold threads in her eyes were flashing more rapidly now, as Vance struggled to keep control of Rose's mind.

"Rose," The blank eyes that were shifting back to brown focused on him, tears of pain starting to fill them. "It's me, the Doctor."

Rose frowned, head tilting to one side as if listening to a half-forgotten memory; and recognition flickered briefly in her eyes as she repeated the name. "Doctor?" Her mouth curved upwards in a gentle, wistful smile, "I remember..."

The Doctor darted forward and caught her as her collapsed suddenly, gold retreating from her limp figure back to the computer, which suddenly shut down, the screen going black. He cradled Rose to him as the door swung open, Jack leaning around the frame and gesturing to him urgently.

"Noel was right, Vance set the machines in the building to self-destruct if there was ever an error, and we can't reset them," Jack started forward when he saw Rose. "Is she..."

"She's fine, but she's exhausted from housing two people. Come on."

Jack led the way down the stairs and through the corridors, the doors locked by an override code created by Noel. They escaped out onto the street, turning just in time to see the windows blown out by the self-destruction of the computers. The Doctor shifted his grip on Rose, jumping slightly as Noel tapped his shoulder.

"Is the lass alright?"

"She will be, but I'll check."

Noel grinned and nodded "I'll be seeing you then, I gotta go and distract the authorities. Don't get into too much trouble too soon, right?" Noel paused, and chuckled to himself, "though mind you, that's like asking the sun not to shine."

"Thanks Noel." Noel merely smiled and wandered away, throwing his arms around a couple of the local police and loudly declaring. 'What d'you say lads? Drinks for everyone!'

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The Doctor placed Rose gently on the table, and was about to pick up the scanner when a hand on his arm stopped him. He looked around at Jack, who nodded to the figure on the table. Dark brown, half-open eyes looked back at them, and Jack leaned over her, giving a kiss that was moved from her lips to cheek when he got a gentle shove from Rose.

"So cruel, especially after we saved you and all," he ruffled her hair. "Good to see you back, Rosie."

"I'm not a puppet!" she grumbled, and he laughed affectionately and left the room, nudging the Doctor towards her as he did so.

"Are you alright?"

Rose smiled softly, beckoning him to her and when he was close enough twined their fingers together. Her eyes closed briefly but her grip didn't slacken.

"Better?" he asked, sitting next to her. Rose sat up and curled up to him, her head falling easily into the hollow of his neck. She smiled brightly enough to put the Sun to shame.

"Better."


End file.
